Using Web 2.0 in Your Job Search Strategy

Social Media, such as Facebook, and Professional Media, such as LinkedIn, can be of immense use during your unemployment. Both of these and the many other media forms can really help to put your presence and your name out there on the web. Many people think only of using the career websites like Monster.com and HotJobs.com to get their name and resume out there. While those do work for some people, you should also be considering how to use the other media services as well.

We have seen the recent news report or photograph of the guy in New York City with a sandwich board that contains his resume. He is advertising to everyone that he is out of work and that he needs a job. Well, the same can be accomplished to a more focused group of people via the Web 2.0 media sites.

Set yourself up with an account on sites like Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, or one of the many other sites. I personally do not advocate for MySpace because they are a little too hands-off with the problems on the site and it is more intended for use by teens then it is by adults. Facebook started more as a college site, but has rapidly progressed to be used by millions of adults to stay in contact with one another. LinkedIn has always been a networking site for professionals and they continue to add more services that link many different aspects of your online job together. Twitter is a site that allows a person to note in 140 words or less what they are doing right now and right now could include looking for a job or commenting on a recent job loss, like many on the site currently are doing.

Once you have accounts on these sites, you can make your presence known. Connect up with current friends, old friends, people from high school or college and begin to talk to them. Let people on these sites know that you are out of work and are looking. They may not be interested or able to help, but as you continue to connect up with people, the likelihood that you will find someone who might be able to help will increase.

I have almost 120 connections on Facebook, I have 12 people following me on twitter and I have almost 100 professional connections on LinkedIn. These numbers are not dramatic by any means, but I have within my networks here a list of people who are HR Managers, HR reps. , a career coach, a branding professional and many others. They may not be able to get me my dream job, but it does not hurt to use what I have and that includes all of these connections.

If you are reading or following my blog here, you are relatively web savvy. Now you just need to take it to the next step. I will admit that I was a little late to the social media craze, but the value of it in a business sense is amazing. As such, it can be an amazing tool to help you reconnect and to find a job in this difficult economy.